Blog

2018 has been a big and exciting year for Virtual Peaker. We made substantial investments in our team, our technology, and our customer frameworks. Amid these changes, it became imperative our outward identity better reflect our internal evolution. Now, after several months of work, we are thrilled to announce our new brand.

We at Virtual Peaker talk a lot about customer engagement - and with good reason. There is a rising tide of realization within the utility space that the transition from "ratepayer" to "customer" can't just be the label. The customer concept must be supported by actionable strategies that result in measurable improvements in engagement and ultimately, satisfaction.

There is little doubt that the electric utility industry is feeling the strongest disruptive forces in a century. The growth of renewable energy exponentially eats away at energy sales, which remain the main revenue for utilities. Further, the intermittent nature of renewable energy drivers faster ramp rates, thereby increasing the complexity of serving customers.

Utility resident demand response (DR) programs have evolved in many ways over the years. Initially focused on Direct Load Controllers (DLC) that provide on/off switches and one-way communication, demand response programs have begun to increase in sophistication. Supported by the Internet-of-Things, utilities are rapidly discovering the operational and customer engagement benefits of bringing smart devices into DR platforms.

What continues to lag, however, is the control for these programs. Smart devices have gotten smarter, but the utility platforms supporting them have not.

The energy value chain has been in flux for decades, transitioning between integration, disintegration and back again. These fluctuations have been driven by a number of factors — changing commodity prices, a shifting regulatory environment and the impacts of new technology. But over the last several years, the customer is returning to the forefront. Once seen as an operational headache and lower margin than being upstream (i.e. — producing crude oil and generating electrons), retail markets are becoming crucial to the long-term success of energy giants across the energy landscape.